129 Years of Family Serving Family: Davina Thomas, Fort Bliss

One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 129 years of family serving family

Who she is: Davina Thomas, Shift Manager, Purple Heart Express, Fort Bliss

Years With the Exchange: Thomas started as a concessionaire in 1995 or ’96 in Hanau, Germany, then joined the organization as an associate in 1997.

Military connections: Thomas served one year and nine months in the Army, doing her Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Fort Bliss. She trained to be a 16T/Patriot Missile Crewmember.

After graduating from AIT, Thomas did her Head Start in Baumholder, Germany. After a few months, she was assigned to A Battery 5/7 ADA Air Defense Artillery in Bitburg.

Thomas met her husband, SGM Cody Thomas, in Bitburg. Now retired, he served 30 years in the Army.

One of Thomas’ uncles served in the Army and one in the Navy. “That was long before I was born,” she said. “I heard stories about them being in the service, but I didn’t grow up with the military.”

Why she joined the Army: Originally from northern Nevada, Thomas grew up in Arizona. “I’m Native American Indian, from the Paiute-Shoshone McDermitt Reservation in Nevada,” she said. “I grew up in Parker, Arizona, which is the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation. That’s made up of Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi and Navajo Native Americans.

“Being from a small town, being from a reservation, we did not have a lot of opportunities,” she said. “Being a woman, my opportunities were either go to college or nursing school, and that was it. I wanted to see the world. An Army recruiter came and asked me, ‘What do you mean by see the world? Does the Army interest you?’ I said I would love to join the Army. It seemed like a good opportunity to do something with my life.”

Memories of Exchange support: “When I went through basic training at Fort Jackson, we had a Troop Store for our basic necessities. I remember all of us Soldiers lining up out front and waiting out turn to get in and get things like toothpaste, shampoo, a brush, basic socks. It was very calm and pleasant—coming from a drill sergeant screaming and yelling at you to stand in line and not talk, and then you go inside and somebody’s smiling at you and telling you to have a good day or keep your head up. It was a positive experience.”

How she became involved with the Exchange: “When my husband and I PCS’d from Germany to Fort Bliss, I was looking for a job. I looked for something where I could give back to my brothers and sisters in arms. The Exchange was how I decided that I want to give back to the community.”

What she did at first: Thomas worked at an Express at Fort Bliss’ Sergeants Major Academy for 14 years. “The academy deals with our E-8s: first sergeants, master sergeants, sergeants major, international sergeants major that are going through the course who have become selected to become sergeant majors.

“It was like a small family,” she said. “The staff and faculty, outside of AAFES, made it feel like a family. You knew people by their names. Our Express store was the size of a classroom. We provided the basics for almost everything. It was a meeting place, first thing in the morning, for people to get their coffee and snacks. Their break time, that’s the first place they would go.

“You got to know the Soldiers one on one, you got to know their families. You got to see them from their first class to their graduation day. You got to see their extended families come out and celebrate for them and with them. I’d have troops come in and talk about their frustrations with their thesis papers and even brainstorm a little. Or just talk about something else, which would refresh their brain and help them reset.”

One of the people Thomas saw graduate was her husband. “I got to see him go through there,” she said. “And now, as a retiree, he works at the academy as one of the department heads.”

Where else she’s worked: Thomas has spent almost all her Exchange career at Fort Bliss, except for 2003 to 2007, when she worked at the U.S. Military Academy Exchange at West Point.

“My husband and I PCS’d to West Point, where he was a TAC NCO for units there,” she said. “When I left Fort Bliss, I reapplied for a position at West Point and started out as a cashier for the first two to three months, and then a supervisor position opened up in the Customer Service area. I applied for that and spent three years as a supervisor for customer service, central checkout and hardlines.

“West Point gave me a different perspective,” she added. “When I was in service, I was enlisted, and when I was at Fort Bliss from 1997 to 2003, I was dealing with active duty, enlisted, officers and retirees. At West Point, it’s mainly about Cadets and seeing the perspective of how an officer starts out.”

Upstate New York was also a switch from Fort Bliss, with its desert climate and mostly mild winters—not to mention a switch from where Thomas grew up.

“In Arizona, it’s a lot of desert, dirt, dust, lizards, cacti,” she said. “West Point is trees, water, mountains, bugs. It was a culture shock. I had my first experience with Lyme disease in West Point, after I hung out without a bunch of deer and caught a tick. I saw all kinds of wild animals—where I lived, on top of the highest hill at West Point, our trash bins were across the street and a bunch of bear cubs attacked the area.

“I loved being at West Point. The Exchange there, the community there, made me fall in love with AAFES all over again. It gave me a new appreciation for what we do for our troops, our retirees.”

What she likes most about her job now: “It’s still giving back to the troops,” said Thomas, who returned to Fort Bliss in 2007. “We have one-on-one interaction with our troops. It’s a younger generation now, but it’s just giving back to them, getting to know our Soldiers by name, being able to provide for them when they want something or need something.

“I love working with our associates, too. I have a great team on my side, and my management team has been very helpful to me.”

The Express as a gathering place: “We see a lot of young troops. Troops who come in for their lunch breaks and just want to hang out and talk. They’ll run into old classmates from basic training here. Soldiers assigned to different units tend to meet here, see each other and get a chance to talk to each other. It’s a good meeting ground for our Soldiers—and for our retirees. I’ve had Soldiers talk about ‘Oh, there goes my old sergeant major—I hadn’t seen him in the last two years and I was wondering if he was still in the area.’ It’s a place where they find it familiar. If they can come into our stores, our Expresses, our Exchanges and see a familiar face when they come back from deployment, it makes them feel at home.”

On her Native American heritage: “I look Hispanic, so when I explain to people that I’m Native American, it piques their interest. I can elaborate and tell them what nation I’m from, who my people are and my experiences. I’m not that much different from the next person. I went to a public school, English is my first language. I know some of my tribal language—I don’t speak it but I do know it. Native Americans are a proud people and I’m proud of what we’ve become as a whole and being able to share that with everybody else.”

What family serving family means to her: “It’s being there for our Soldiers, being there for our retirees, being there for our associates. We build a strong support network for each of them. They’re all family.”